Last summer when I moved to Charlotte, my cousin told me about all of the ‘must try” places around town. Va da Vie Gelato was one of the places she told me I should try. She raved, and still raves about the Pear Sorbet at Va da Vie. Sadly Va da Vie closed down and I didn’t make it there. However, she asked me to come up with a recipe for Pear Sorbet that she could make and continue to eat over and over, as if Va da Vie had never closed. I of course accepted the challenge.
I tried this pear sorbet with a few combinations of different pears. First I tried it with bartlett pears and anjou pears, and the next time I tried it with bartlett pears and bosc pears. The combination of bartlett pears and anjou pears gave a nice mild pear flavor. When I made the mixture my husband and I both thought I needed an additional flavor, a spice or maybe ginger would’ve been really nice with it. The combination if the bartlett pears with the bosc pears was perfect in my opinion. A few years back when I had my restaurant my cook would always said drinking Snapple Apple, taste just like your biting into an apple. That’s what I thought of when I tasted the sorbet with the bartlett pears and the bosc pears.
Sorbet is pretty easy to make, and can be made with or without an ice cream maker. All you need is fruit, sugar and water, it all goes in the blender, and then into the ice cream maker. If you do not have an ice cream maker place the blended mixture in a shallow freezer safe container and freeze. Once frozen, break into pieces and purée in a blender or food processor until smooth.
For this sorbet, I used 2 bartlett pears, and 2 bosc pears, which yielded about 4 cups of diced pears. I added 1/3 cup of sugar, along with 1 cup of pear nectar, and 1 cup of water. I blended the mixture on high, and poured it all into my ice cream maker. I have a “Smart Scoop” ice cream maker by Breville, which has a sorbet setting. I set mine to either the first or second sorbet setting, I find that if I use the third setting for sorbet, it comes out way to frozen, and very hard to scoop after it is frozen in the freezer. If you have a freezer bowl ice cream maker, you would just watch the mixture, and turn it off when it reaches the consistency you are looking for, or maybe there are manufactures directions for sorbet.
If you are fan of pear, you would love this sorbet.
Pear Sorbet
Makes about 1-1/2 Quart
Ingredients
2 bartlett pears (diced)
2 bosc pears (diced)
1 cup water
1 cup pear nectar
1/3 cup sugar
Directions
- Place all ingredients in the blender.
- Blend on high.
- Pour blended pear mixture into ice cream maker.
- Freeze the sorbet mixture according to your ice cream maker’s directions, or, if not using an ice cream maker, place the mixture in a shallow freezer safe container and freeze. Once frozen, break into pieces and purée in a blender or food processor until smooth.
